A red letter morning and a trip to Spain. The Barbel Society show was again held at Chesford Grange Hotel, Warwickshire and as last year it was a great day out catching up with friends old and new.

PB’s starting to tumble. I’d planned to do some Spring Carping on a local lake called Gingerbread and popped down for a walk round on the Saturday with a view to fishing the night.

The end of a magical season. Work was taking too much fishing time again and it had been over a week before I could get out again.

February – It’s Show Season. Following a few frosty cold nights the weather went cloudy and mild in this crazy winter so I thought this would be the window for a Feb double…

A difficult month! Once Xmas and the New Year festivities were out the way I then had a week of nights to contend with, I really don’t like working them but after 77 hours I get a weeks rest days so it’s worth it in the end.

Another two red letter Trent sessions. I took a week’s break from fishing to recharge my batteries after the Spanish trip and after finishing work on the 1st I packed the car and drove up to the Trent raring to go again.

A red letter Trent session and the trip to Spain. I drove up after work as this was my only window before my trip to Spain to get my November double.

If you’ve been following my diary pieces you’ll know I was due to fly to Spain for 19 days fishing at the end of Sept, but due to circumstances out of my control I had to unpack my bag and cancel the trip the day before leaving.

I got to the river for 21:30 hours, the weather was unchanged, cloudy and warm with showers. The river levels were still up but the swim looked like it was getting to much attention, a lot of the foliage had been cut back opening the swim up to much inviting others to fish it.

River Ouse - When I arrived the river at 16:30 hours it was still 27 degrees, cloudy with a strong south westerly wind. I went in the weir swim, the river levels were back to normal and it looked perfect.

This was my first chance to fish after having been away on a course with work for a week so I was itching to get on the river.

The magical 16th and Eels. I arrived at the crack of dawn and walked round looking for signs of fish, when your day fishing it’s crucial to locate them before you start but not always easy and may take time.

Things don’t always go to plan. For people that haven’t read my April blog I was looking for a big English spring Carp and hopefully a good bonus Tench.

My plans for the close season were to dust off my English Carp rods and have a go at getting a biggie from this side of the pond.

After a week of nights I had 7 days off to hopefully get a double figure Barbel and complete my season long challenge.

Barbel or bust. After a week of snow, frost and cold weather it had started to warm up, was cloudy with wind and not forecast to freeze during the night so I fancied my chances and headed back up the A1.

Once xmas and the New Year festivities were out the way I was itching to get back out fishing. With work and bad weather I didn’t get the chance until the 10th.

I started fishing abroad in 1991, my fishing in England is very limited due to pressures of work and family so I try to get a few weeks abroad every year.

I had the Friday of work and was hoping to get the Dec double in early so loaded up the car and drove up to the Trent which was fast becoming my second home.

I was feeling pretty tired after travelling back from Spain the previous day and wasn’t feeling too well but this could have been my only window for a November double so it was load up the car, suck it up and drive to the magical Trent.